Saturday, June 24, 2017

From The Living Church-Legal counsel for the Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, Bishop of Los Angeles, confirmed June 22 that Bruno has signed an agreement to sell St. James the Great Church in Newport Beach, setting up a confrontation between Bruno and a church disciplinary panel that ordered him not to sell.

The sale, scheduled to close on July 3, is to Burnham-Ward Properties LLC, a well-regarded local developer. This potentially sets up a separate confrontation with the Newport Beach City Council, some members of which have expressed strong opposition to changing the zoning designation of the property.

According to email from Julie Dean Larsen, a vice chancellor of the diocese who has been representing the bishop, Bruno was unable to disclose the proposed sale when the disciplinary panel asked about it June 14 because of a confidentiality agreement. Larsen said the confidentiality agreement was modified earlier in the day June 22 to enable her to respond. The email, which does not mention a price or intended use for the property, was provided to TLC by the church’s media spokesman, Roger Bloom.